28.03.10 - When It's Not All About Me

Read Matthew 21:1-16.

Jesus rode into Jerusalem, on the Sunday one week before He would be killed. In that week, He drove the moneychangers and merchants out of the temple; He taught in the Temple courts. In Matthew’s gospel, for example, most of chapters 21, 22, 23, 24,and 25 are teaching during this last week. The chief priests and the elders were nervous and challenged Him. Tensions increased. Jesus challenged them; remember Matthew 23, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!...”

On the Thursday night, Jesus shared the Last Supper with the Twelve disciples, then prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before being arrested. Through that night He was tried before the Sanhedrin and, on Friday morning, tried before Pilate and Herod, before being condemned and led away to be crucified.

That week started with the excitement of the crowds welcoming Jesus as the Messiah. “Hosanna” means “save”. “Son of David” – definitely a Messianic term. “He who comes in the name of the Lord.” In the temple, the blind and the lame came to Him to be healed.

Matt 21:15 When the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things He did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant.

They were indignant that Jesus was being greeted as the Messiah. They said to Him, “Do you hear what these children are saying?” as if to say, “Don’t you realise how inappropriate this is?”

Jesus said, “Yes, I hear it. Haven’t you read that God would inspire children and infants to declare praise. What they say is OK. Actually, it is a God thing.” Jesus accepted the title of Messiah.

But the week went from excitedly welcoming Jesus as the Messiah to condemning Him as a criminal and crying out for His execution only five days later. The same crowd that welcomed Him, rejected Him.

Was it the same crowd? Were the same people involved in both? I think I heard the suggestion once that by the end of the week the crowd would have been different because people were coming to Jerusalem for the Passover festival. Most of the gospels just refer to “the crowd” at both times as if there was no distinction. John links the crowd in particular to the raising of Lazarus from the dead. There had been a crowd present then and the reports had spread like wild fire.

John 12:18 Many people, because they had heard that He had performed this sign, went out to meet Him.

He also talks about some Greeks who had come up to Jerusalem to worship at the festival. It seems that the crowd included the populace of Jerusalem, especially those who had heard about the miracle of Lazarus being raised from the dead, and people who were already gathering in Jerusalem.

Luke 19:37-38 37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:
38 "Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

The whole crowd of disciples? In what sense were they disciples?

We know what disciples are, don’t we? Disciples are students of a teacher; apprentices; followers. There were the twelve disciples but they wouldn’t be a very big crowd. There was a much greater number of people who were followers of Jesus – who praised God for all the miracles they had seen; who had heard the teaching; who believed that He was the Messiah.

Where were they at the end of the week? Nowhere to be found. Who was supporting Jesus then? Where were His followers then? Were they also in the crowd baying for His blood?

If these people were disciples on Palm Sunday, doesn’t that make their defection even more serious?

The same was true of the Twelve who had been closest to Him. Where were they at the end of the week? They had melted away. They deserted Him. When Jesus was arrested all of the disciples deserted Him and fled (Mt 26:56, Mk 14:50). Peter. He and the other disciples no doubt relished the excitement of Palm Sunday. Peter declared he would never desert Jesus. On the Thursday night, he vowed that he didn’t even know Jesus.

Why? Why the change in all these people?

At the beginning of the week, it was exciting; they were on the winning team; they were seeing miracles. It was fun. They liked it. They were benefitting.

By the end of the week, there was cost. Why did Peter deny Jesus? Because his own safety was under threat. There was going to be a cost - and he wasn’t willing to pay the price. The disciples were happy to be with Jesus when He was being hailed as the Messiah but when He was arrested – when there was a cost to being with Jesus – they disappeared. The crowds were His disciples when people were being raised from the dead. That was huge fun. But how many claimed to be His disciples when He was being condemned as a criminal? None.

At the beginning of the week it was about what they were going to get. By the end of the week, it was about what they were going to give. At the beginning of the week, it was all about them. By the end of the week, it was all about Jesus. Or, at least, that was the challenge: Would it be all about Jesus? Would it be about loyalty to Him? Would it be about following Him when there was a cost?

And the answer was “No”. It was still all about them – their safety; their wellbeing; their next source of thrills.

At least three times Pilate, the Roman governor, went back to the chief priests and to the crowd and said, “I have examined this man and can find no basis for the charges you bring against Him. What crime has he done? I can find no grounds for the death penalty.” But, in the end, Pilate was spooked by the uproar that was developing and he washed his hands as if that absolved him from responsibility and handed Jesus over to be put to death. He wanted to do what was right but self-interest took over. Ultimately it was all about him.

By the end of the week, there was only one person left standing. Everybody had melted away except one person. Jesus Himself. Only one person was willing to keep standing when there was a cost. For Him the cost would be enormous. Though He had never sinned, He would take responsibility for every sin ever committed by every person on the face of this earth, both those already committed and those that would still be committed. Responsible for every sin, He would die. As a sinner, He would be forsaken by His Father who can have nothing to do with sin. Though He had shown great love and compassion, He would be abandoned. No one would love Him.

For Jesus it would not be all about Himself. Even though it was costly for Him, it was all about honouring His Father and all about those He loved – all about those who condemned Him; all about us.

Are we like that crowd? Are we here just for the ride? Are we here just because it is fun and we hope to get something out of it? Do we claim to be followers of Jesus just because we like having Jesus close to us, looking after us and just because it is convenient that God answers our prayers? Are we here because it is exciting when we hear about miracles? Do we follow Jesus just because we want to go to heaven?

What would happen if there was a cost? What would happen if it might cost us our lives or our freedom or financially? What happens when it is not all about me?

Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.” (Mt 10:38; 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23) There is no other sort of discipleship. Those are the terms for anyone who wants to be a disciple: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me.”

Just after entering Jerusalem, some Greeks who had come up to worship at the festival came to Philip and said, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” Philip and Andrew took their request to Jesus and Jesus’ reply is a bit of a puzzle. It appears to completely ignore the Greek enquirers and we never hear of them again. Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Those who love their life will lose it, while those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honour the one who serves me.” (Jn 12:23-26)

Those Greeks had said, “We would like... We would like to see Jesus.” I wonder if Jesus was addressing that attitude of it all being about me and what I would like. I wonder if they were simply excited about what was happening in Jerusalem and wanted to see it for themselves, and so Jesus responded by talking about paying a price. The kernel of wheat must fall to the ground and die. If it does not, it remains only a single seed. But if it does, it multiplies itself many times over. It seems that Jesus does have in mind this issue of it all being about me. He contrasts those who love their life – those who carefully protect their own safety and their own privileges – with those who are willing to lay down their lives. Those who want to get versus those who are willing to give. He goes on to talk about serving and following.

Now here’s the thing that is not intuitive and that we have to get into our heads: those who want to protect their own lives will lose them, while those who lay down their lives will receive life for eternity. God will honour those who serve. It is counter-intuitive. It is not what the world thinks. The seed that dies produces many seeds. The seed that doesn’t remains only a single seed.

The disciples who melted away at Easter were given a second chance. The second time around they made a different choice. They identified with Jesus irrespective of the cost. And many of them died because of that choice. It had once been all about them. It no longer was. They were different people.

What happens when it is not all about me but it is costly? Do we avoid the cost? Is it actually still all about us?

I suspect that all of us are faced with some choice where God is asking whether we will do what is easy or whether we will pay a price. Can you think of some area in which God is currently saying to you, “There is a cost. Will you do your thing or will you do my thing?” There is a cost, maybe the risk of being rejected. There is a cost – maybe a financial cost. Maybe it means letting go of a dream – maybe a selfish dream and God is asking if we will let it go for the sake of something else that is part of His Kingdom.

Is there some area in which God is calling you to do something costly? What is going to be the outcome when it is not all about you? Will we be like those who defected? Or are we truly followers of Jesus who didn’t turn away from the cost but walked the path of obedience all the way to the cross – because it wasn’t about Him? It was about us.

What costly thing is God asking you to do? What will you do?

Remember what God has promised to those to lay down their own lives.